Well,
Spent months of weekends rust repairing leo (the 62 twin cab) and then spent more months on his 'final' body and getting him painted......
Had everything ready for assembly (still trying to get him to
the 05 easter Nationals) and had some time off over Christmas.....
Began assembly. Should be reasonably quick as everything
is
either pre-built, painted and/or prefitted....
Get to the passenger's compartment door. Go to put the bolts
into the top hinge and the captive bolt plate decides that its
been held in captivity for long enough and does a runner to
the bottom of the pillar.....shit!
I decide I can't have been a good person in
a previous life.......
Further decide to leave the bolter in the bottom of the pillar cos
any cuts are going to be through leo's new paint...
Make new captive plate. Cut into the pillar (and new paint sob)
at a place where I'll be able to touch it up and the cut will be covered
by a trim panel.
Feed new captive plate up into place using wire....
This actually works fairly painlessly (perhaps only a minor criminal in previous life now methinks) and get top hinge bolted on......(love
stainless hardware)
you can see the wire trail at the bottom JHS of the pic.....
So manage to get passenger's compartment door fitted. Job that should
have taken an hour
ends up taking most of the day....but that's the way it goes...
And leo is starting to look pretty good!
RobK
Ahh the trials & tribulations of a splitty resto.............
Leo is looking fantastic Rob.:bounce
its so good to see so many buses getting a rebirth lately this one looks great top job. what size tyres are on the front they fill the wheel arch
nicely.
[Edited on 28-12-2004 by t2 sauerkraut bug]
Fantastic Rob, you are such a gem in 'pure restorations' just awsome, keep up the fab work
Andy
come on rob dont hold it back show us some pics of her beauty in the light!!!
bloody beautiful!
cheers
rhys
Far be it for me to tell you what to do Rob as you're a genious, but couldn't you have retreived the lost bolt plate with a magnet or am I talking utter crap.
I love that last pic - just enough to whet the appetite for some more pics of the full body! Looking fantastic Rob, very very clean.
Very nice Rob. Very nice...
Very nice Rob. Love your work. Looking forward to seeing more of Leo.
Dont be such a tease Rob.
Come on where are the rest of the pics.Looks a great job, as per usual.
Wheels look really good.
Cheers
Dave
awesome stuff 
i think its even more awsome because the whole progress
has been documented along the way and people can go back and admire/learn from all the hardwork you've put in 
top stuff, cant wait to see it at the nats if she makes it in time.
Well,
far be it from me to be accused of being a tease! Leo's tyres
are 195/60s which are the absolute widest you can get on
the rear of an 'early' bus with stock 'flat' rear wheelwells.
And you have to roll the inner guards and deflate the tyres to actually
get em on (I'll have to add a little 12v compressor to the toolkit).
Door fit and gaps are pretty good considering how much I
cut the B pillars around to try and get em right (Leo
was
not only rusty but previously accident damaged on both sides...).
Passengers compartment door gap still opens slightly on
the upper rear but I'll live with that. Doors open and shut sweetly.
Mission control so far. I'll put the steering box back in tomorrow
and I've restored a steering wheel (black) with a nice black
deluxe horn push..
And this is why leo is leo.
One thing I haven't done is his gates (and they're really rooted too....)
Beginning to worry I mightn't get them all done before Easter..
RobK
[Edited on 30-12-2004 by splitbusaustralia]
Mate fantastic
B E A U T I F U L
Another show winner.
Cheers
Dave
oo oo, what's that barn door lurking ddep in the garage? :thumb
p.s. Leo is absolutely awesome. if he doesn't win multiple trophies the judges at the nats should be ashamed of themselves.
Very sweet straight ride. I love the twinny. Yeah nice Barny up the back too. Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh.
Squiz...